Materialism, the Holidays & Our Future

Perhaps your 401k is not looking quite so pale these days and there is hope yet that you might be able to retire before downsizing into that assisted living center your family comments on how nicely kept it is each time you drive by. With Halloween but two weeks away, the Christmas holidays are right around the corner. I know this because my mailbox, both postal and online, has been stuffed full with catalogs and reminders for me to get myself into that free-spending state of mind.

I however am taking solace in an article today in the Wall Street Journal Online by Jon Hilsenrath. He writes of a conversation he had with Joel Waldfogel, a Wharton professor who has published a treatise called “Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays.” Waldfogel challenges each of us to consider the $25 billion of economic squander that will be haplessly spent this holiday season on gifts. He asks us to ponder for a moment if that money was given to charity or used for more noble purposes instead. I know, my family is saying “the money you spend on me wouldn’t buy a kettle of soup down at the shelter, let alone help to reduce the government’s budget deficit.” I however am not going to be shamed into buying materialistic gifts that will either be forgotten about or returned by New Years Day.

So when my family gets their red envelope from me this year with only some money or a gift card inside, let it be known that I have taken a lesson from the Jewish and Asian communities on how to allocate wealth without the intrusion of President Obama’s socialist policies. My hope is that each of you might use a portion of your pittance to help defray the cost of a phone call to someone that might need a guiding hand, or to buy (and read) a book that will give you the inspiration to be the best you can be. Maybe Seven Habits of Highly Effective People or Wake Up Inspired will be the title that connects with you. Or better yet, use it to purchase a Bible for your family to read together, so that next year we can all rejoice in the true meaning of the season! For each one of us holds the key to our future. As John M. Richardson, Jr. said, "When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened." Carpe Diem!

Revolutionary or the Devil’s Messenger

Justice Potter Stewart in a famous summation wrote that he could not define pornography, "but I know it when I see it." (Justice Stewart in Jacobellis v. Ohio 378 US 184 (1964).). The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines pornography as “material (as books or a photograph) that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement” (2009). Today, we know it when we see it and we are getting an eye full, but we choose to look the other way. Popular culture and our normative values are much more lenient than they were 60 years ago.

We can thank Hugh Hefner and Playboy in part for the sexual mugging we must routinely endure. Founded in 1953, Playboy today is one of the best known brands around the world. In addition to its flagship magazine, Playboy Enterprises, Inc. owns hotels, and produces television shows and a cable television network. The magazine today has a paid circulation of over 2.5 million copies (Audit Bureau of Circulations, 2009), more than Parenting and even O, The Oprah Magazine and Martha Stewart Living.

It is heartening that the majority of the magazine's readers “buy it for the articles” like the monthly interviews with a cornucopia of guests. Among the politicians and celebrities that have graced the pages of the magazine are Jimmy Carter, who admitted to committing “adultery” in his heart in the midst of running for, and ultimately winning the Presidency in 1976, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Frank Sinatra, George Wallace, Jesse Jackson, and Donald Trump. There are also countless proud parents whose daughters can add to their Curriculum Vitae that they were one of Hef’s “girls of the Pac-10” or any one of the other conferences, including the Ivy League, featured in Playboy.

Playboy’s impact on advertising, business, politics, consumer values, and sexual openness (University of Missouri, 2008) can not be denied. It was, and to this day, is a model for the modern male. Men learn what the best car is to pick-up women , the best liquors to drink, the best clothes to wear, the best stereo equipment to own, and how to decorate their “bachelor” pad. Playboy was also responsible for a sexual liberation. A liberation that helped define the American ideal of beauty, resulting in over 355 thousand women having breast augmentation procedures in 2008, the most performed surgical cosmetic procedure surpassing liposuction (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery). A liberation that many feel degrades and objectifies women, while Hefner prefers to note its empowering facets of upsetting traditional gender values, while supporting economic opportunity, social equality, and abortion rights.

Ultimately time will tell how Hefner is remembered, as a social truth-seeker and cultural revolutionary as he would like, or as messenger of the devil. Either way, we have him to thank for an $8 billion porn industry in the U.S. that includes adult videos, magazines, Cable/Pay per view television, Internet and CD-Rom programming. Hefner and Playboy made pornography “chic” so that it can be found throughout popular culture today, from your local upscale bookstore to your living room, thanks to enabling mainstream corporations such as Time Warner, Comcast, and AT&T. Once Pandora’s box is opened, it is hard to put the lid back on it.


References

American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. (2009, March 16). Liposuction no longer the most popular surgical procedure according to new statistics. Retrieved September 14, 2000, from http://www.surgery.org/media/news-releases/liposuction-no-longer-the-most-popular-surgical-procedure-according-to-new-statistics

Audit Bureau of Circulations. (2009, June 30). Consumer Magazines: Circulation averages for the six months ended. Retrieved September 14, 2009, from http://abcas3.accessabc.com/ecirc/magtitlesearch.asp

Pornography. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved September 14, 2009, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pornography

Scully, M. (2006, March 31). The Playboy legacy. Retrieved September 13, 2009, from http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110008169

University of Missouri. (2008, September 12). Playboy founder embodies american dream; changes American culture. Retrieved September 14, 2009, from http://rcp.missouri.edu/articles/watts-hefner.html

A scoop of Culture

“Rocky Road” and “The Great Divide” don’t just describe Obama Care and the rift between conservatives and liberals these days. In fact, they are flavors of Blue Bell Ice Cream. Blue Bell, claimed to be the third best selling ice cream in America (Browing-Blas, 2009), has more than 102,000 fans on Facebook. Ice cream is likely a part of one of your family, or local rituals. You see even ice cream can be part of our pop culture.

Ice cream is comfort food that stirs an emotional reaction in a person or group of people. As Howard Kruse, the President and CEO of Blue Bell Creameries once said, “it's the happiest food in the world” (Travis, 1997). But what does ice cream and specifically Blue Bell ice cream tell us about our popular culture? In a word it is nostalgia, the pining for the past. John Harris wrote in The Guardian (2008) that “our popular culture is increasingly defined by an unhealthy refusal to let go of the past.” That is a sentiment that I must disagree with. On the contrary, I see our popular culture as taking a less nostalgic view and forgetting about those things that made, and continue to make America the envy of the world.

You see it is the ideals that are conveyed in those family picnics with their tables adorned with red and white gingham tablecloths, a grandfather, father and son all working together, cranking the handle of an old manual ice cream machine with the ice and rock salt making that unforgettable sound. Heritage doesn’t have to be new to be appreciated. Sure, the old venerable “Homemade Vanilla” is Blue Bell’s best selling flavor, and also the best-selling single flavor of ice cream in America (Travis, 1997). That doesn’t mean that we can’t bask in the flavors of the contemporary “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough” or “Moo-llennium Crunch,” but we should not ignore the flavors of yesteryear that invoke our conservative ideals like “Southern Blackberry Cobbler” and “Southern Hospitality.”

In 1984, then President Ronald Reagan, proclaimed July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as Ice Cream Day (Hertz, 2009). In his proclamation, Reagan urged all Americans to celebrate with "appropriate ceremonies and activities." The next time you are watching the television and some popular culture artifact comes on that pushes the boundaries of morality and decency, take a moment to think about that “hand-cranked ice cream folks used to make on the porch during long summer evenings” (Blue Bell Creameries, 2009) and partake in an appropriate activity by changing the channel.

References

Blue Bell Creameries. (2009). Blue Bell products now available in Miami and surrounding areas. Retrieved September 12, 2009, from http://www.bluebell.com/the_little_creamery/press_releases/press_miami.aspx

Browing-Blas, K. (2009, July 29). Texas favorite Blue Bell melts hearts in Colorado. Retrieved September 12, 2009, from http://www.denverpost.com/food/ci_12924913

Harris, J. (2008, January 14). Those still are the days. Retrieved September 12, 2009, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jan/14/music.comment

Hertz, R. (2009, July 15). We all scream for ice cream. Retrieved September 12, 2009, from Killeen Daily Herald http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=34551

Travis, C. (1997). The kings of ice cream. Retrieved September 12, 2009, from http://www.roundtop.com/bluebell.htm

Pop Culture and the Moral Debate

Today, our Western value systems are constantly being re-evaluated. The media, inclusive of radio, television, newspapers, film and the Internet, are having a profound effect on popular culture. The media is taking a prominent role in forming the mores of the day. Subjects once taboo are now discussed with increased frequency. Individuals are being left to form their own ethical conclusions on the messages conveyed by the media in the face of disintegrating punitive powers of school, church and family. Janet Cramer’s (2007) article “Discourses of Sexual Morality in Sex and the City and Queer as Folk” explores the divergent views on sexual morality portrayed in two widely popular cable television programs that viewers are left to decipher.

Cramer’s article would seem to be written for scholarly audience, one no doubt with a toolbox containing more than just the basic Introduction to Sociology or Philosophy course. Her prose continually sends one searching for definitions and background on scholars and terminology that she casually makes use of. From aesthetics to the “secularization theory,” her writing takes on a condescending tone more palatable to her academia associates than to a layperson. Cramer cites empirical studies as though they were artifacts of popular culture themselves and known to a vast audience.

While Cramer searches for a “moral framework” (p. 425) that Sex and the City and Queer as Folk espouses around the values of marriage, care of self, care of others, honesty, and dialogue, the reader must allow himself to look past the blasphemous disregard for traditional Western values that these two shows exhibit. As Cramer self-confesses, functional morals must be checked at the door if the discourse of these shows is to be analyzed. The question becomes then of the significance that can be placed on a show such as Sex and the City which implicitly extols the value of marriage while at the same time using the promiscuous escapades of its characters to ensnare the audience? Cramer seems to believe that it is the discussion of these conflicting views that will ultimately set the tone of our moral paradigm.

Cramer goes on to address how the two shows tackle the value of honesty. She makes the comparison of honesty as a continuum of duplicity in Sex and the City, to honesty portrayed as the bedrock of relationship in Queer as Folk. However, she doesn’t address how these two divergent views are to be reconciled by viewers to ultimately influence their own moral behavior. But it is the ensuing debate over this discourse that Cramer believes will be responsible for constructing a moral framework.

Cramer points to the self centered standards these two shows promote with regard to the morality of care of self, while basically ignoring the care of others. While these two shows may be responsible for initiating a public discussion on the care of self and others, both put a higher value on self and that is the image that viewers are undeniably left with. Finally, Cramer hypothesizes that the portrayal of having a dialogue between self and others (p. 423) is the most significant factor in the formation of moral standards these shows have. The process of developing our “story” forces us to organize our judgments and to come to a realization of just who we are in terms of our ethics.

Understanding that we are continually being left in the position of becoming our own “moral authority” (p. 411) is the key idea that a reader of Cramer’s article is left with. Discourse in moral issues is taking place daily through outlets of popular culture. Will viewers show the initiative to challenge the messages being sent by the media, or simply take the standards exhibited as the new gospel? Society’s open discussion of these moral issues is what will in the end determine our moral standards. It was disappointing that Cramer chose to simply look at the discussion of sexual morality in these two programs and left for further study and analysis just how the messages in these programs are received and internalized by viewers as they frame their own views on morality.

References

CRAMER, J. M. (2007). Discourses of Sexual Morality in Sex and the City and Queer as Folk. The Journal of Popular Culture, 40(3), 409-432.

The Search for Reality

The artifact of popular culture I chose to analyze this week was HGTV’s (Home and Garden Television) reality series House Hunters (Pie Town, 1999). House Hunters takes you along on the ride with a prospective home buyer as they view three homes in hopes of finding their perfect dream house. The show focuses on the emotional experience that greets a home buyer, while at the same time illuminating the process and some of the critical factors that go into what often times is the largest purchase an individual makes. House Hunters doesn’t fit my stereotypical image of a reality show.

When I think of a reality TV show, I think of Survivor or Big Brother, not a show about buying a house. The term reality television is defined by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2009), as “television programming” depicting “actual occurrences,” ostensibly real people in the “raw.” When I watch House Hunters, I have conditioned myself to view it as a self-help exercise, analogous to becoming a better, more informed person. Murray and Ouellette (2008) posit that we can sometimes confuse the commercial messages in reality TV to the informational messages of news and documentaries. I must admit that I am guilty of having my vision blurred by the commercialistic aspect of the show. Viewers dream about moving to sunny Florida or Las Vegas, not to Stockton, California and Cleveland, Ohio, whom made the Forbes top five most miserable cities (Badenhausen, 2009). I guess it is not strictly by chance that Las Vegas and Orlando are showcased with greater regularity.

However, there too is even a voyeuristic dimension that draws me to the show (Samuals, p. 199). I am drawn to the stealth-like way I can walk through somebody’s home and get a “firsthand” glimpse of how some stranger lives. Who hasn’t seen a house on a drive through a neighborhood and wondered what it looked like inside? Possibly you have even stopped at an “Open House” or a tour of homes in order to get a glimpse of how others live. House Hunters allows me to look inside peoples homes as opposed to looking inside people, which is typically required of other reality shows like The Bachelor or Temptation Island. I feel “cleaner” after watching House Hunters than I do the other shows that require an introspective look inside some stranger’s character. The show allows me to live vicariously through the “home buyers” and feel the anticipation, fear and delight of the search process. It also is fun to make an informal wager with my wife on which home will be chosen the dream house of that particular “hunter.”

I do feel a bit used after reading that the producers often recruit buyers who are already in escrow with the house of their choice (Logan, 2009). I guess when I think it through, it only makes sense, but it still makes it more enjoyable for me to view the show in a more naive way. I don’t want to accept that two homes are filmed just to carry out the selection process and often may be homes never before seen or considered in the actual search. Then to add insult to injury, the producers admit that they “re-do” certain scenes, so that better shots or a preferable camera angles are achieved. Even the non-scripted dialogue is at times suggested by the producers so that answers or comments are delivered in a more succinct manner (Pie Town, 2009).

Reality television is a genre of shows that will be around for a long time to come. From Cops to The Dog Whisperer, to competitive shows like Survivor and The Next Food Network Star, these reality shows seem to have captivated the American television viewing audience. Just as popular culture is influenced through the cinema, so too will these reality television shows impact our society’s moral standards. It will be left to further study and analysis to determine if those consequences are positive or negative.


References

Badenhausen, K. (2009, February 6). America's most miserable cities. Retrieved September 4, 2009, from http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/06/most-miserable-cities-business-washington_0206_miserable_cities.html

Logan, T. (2009). HGTV’s House Hunters’ coming to St. Louis. Retrieved September 3, 2009, from, http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/building-blocks/uncategorized/2009/07/hgtvs-house-hunters-coming-to-st-louis/

Murray, S. & Ouellette, L. (2008). Reality TV: Remaking television culture. New York: New York University Press.

Pie Town Productions (Executive Producer). (1999). House Hunters [Television series]. Knoxville: Home and Garden Television.

Pie Town Productions. (2009). House Hunters – buyers. Retrieved September 4, 2009, from http://www.pietown.tv/Shows/hh_applicationbuyer.html

Reality. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved September 4, 2009, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reality

Samuels, R. (2007). Keeping it real: Why we like to watch reality dating television. In M. Petracca (Ed.), Common culture (pp. 193-200). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Washington Square

Here is an acoustic version of the Counting Crows' new single "Washington Square". How do you think Adam Duritz's hair speaks to popular culture? If the album is half as good as this song, looks like the new album "Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings" is going to be another must have from one of my all time favorite bands!

Way Out West

I was trying to think of an artifact that combined an icon of American contemporary culture with a myth that reflects the ideals of American society. As I struggled to find the appropriate artifact, as chance would have it, it appeared to me. Not in a vision or a thought playing out in my head, but there on my television screen. It was Jack, as in Jack in the Box, and the commercial for “Mini Sirloin Burgers”! Unfortunately or luckily, depending upon your point of view, you may not have had the pleasure to see or to eat at a Jack in the Box. For those uninitiated, Jack in the Box is a fast food franchise that traces its origins back to 1951 in San Diego, California that has prospered and grown to have outlets located in 18 states generally across the west and southwest. However, at one time or another I bet you all have had a jack-in-the-box toy as child that played "Pop Goes the Weasel" as you cranked the handle and whose lid would unexpectedly open letting escape an adorable clown that popped out to both your chagrin and amazement. The jack-in-the-box has taken its place in the culture of America, through comic books, children stories, television, and video games.

Jack, as in Jack Box, is the fictitious chief executive, a human-like “clown” of the franchise. Jack has been seen in many different situations over the years from the boardroom dressed in a coat and tie, to being hit and critically injured by a bus, as witnessed by millions during the 2009 Super Bowl. There have been 28 million antenna balls sold of Jack’s likeness along with more than 5 million other premiums. He has a Pez candy dispenser made with his round head atop, an honor bestowed on other fictional luminaries like Fred Flintstone, Santa Claus, and Batman. Jack even rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq Global Select Market (NASDAQ) (Jack In The Box Inc., 2009).

In this particular ad, Jack out west along with some little ranch hands finds himself riding horses, driving “cattle,” and at nightfall singing the praises of his restaurants new mini sirloin burgers around the campfire. This ad plays off the myth of the American West. The myth of the American West conjures up emotions of individuality, independence, the frontier spirit, an appetite for risk (who doesn’t need that when you make a quick pit stop at a fast food restaurant!), masculinity, and the sense of creating a new identity for oneself (University of Texas at El Paso, 2003). The myth often makes use of panoramic landscapes as employed in the opening frames of this advertisement, along with the proverbial cowboy. Here the Western myth is probably used to target males and a burger of “western” sirloin beef is portrayed to be of superior quality to just any old burger from back east. Through the use of the American West myth, we are captivated by the scenes and the jingle, one I must admit I find myself breaking into a chorus of the tune at all hours of the day.

But it is not only the myth of the American West that makes the viewer have an emotional connection with this commercial, it is the use of a iconic jack-in-the-box clown figure, which at its core makes us feel nostalgic, young at heart, and plain giddy like when we watched that clown pop out of the box as a toddler. Good commercials don’t always translate into good products, but this commercial for “Mini Sirloin Burgers” literally strikes a chord and captivates viewers! I need to go get something to eat!

References

Jack In The Box Inc. (2009). Fact sheets. Retrieved August 25, 2009, from http://www.jackinthebox.com/corporate/press-room/fact-sheets/

University of Texas at El Paso. (2003). The myth of the American west. Retrieved August 25, 2009, from http://faculty.utep.edu/LinkClick.aspx?link=Myth+of+the+West.ppt&tabid=57572&mid=130014

from youtube